TEWWG Journal #4

Chapter 7 page 102

Syntax
The beginning passage at the start of chapter 7 uses many short sentences that flow very quickly. It seems that Zora Neale Hurston uses the short, quick sentences to create a sense of time moving by quickly and the exhaustion that comes with all of the hassles of Janie's relationship with Jody.

Word Choice
Hurston's word choice in this passage is not as clear to me as some of the other techniques she uses but I did notice that at the beginning of the passage she used the word fight, and at the end she uses flight. This could connect to the fight or flight response that humans and animals experience when they are in a conflict. This works into the novel because at the beginning of the story Janie tried to fight, but it did not work with her first husband so she fled (flight). This is what happens with her second husband as well, as we are beginning to see here in this passage, and since that is repeated we can assume that she could end up in the same situation with her third husband.

Tone
The tone of this passage is clearly rushed because of the flow of the sentences, but it could also be tired and filled with longing. Hurston uses words such as "Now and again she thought of.." and "considered flight" to represent Janie's longing for a different live in a different place and her desires to "fly away". This sets a tone of longing for Janie.

Sound Devices
Hurston uses assonance by repeating the vowel sound of a "u". She uses words like "sun", "up", "rut", "come", "nothing" and "was", which all have an "uh" sound in them. The repetition of the sound creates a chugga-chugga sound in the back of the readers mind, which creates an image of a train which could symbolize Janie's life which is chugging away like a train.